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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ecclesiastes 5:10

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He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity.

10. He that loveth silver ] The sequence of thought led the Debater from the evils of the love of money as seen in mis-government to those which are seen in the life of the individual man. The conspicuous fact was the insatiableness of that passion for money;

“Semper avarus eget; hunc nulla pecunia replet.”

“The miser still is poor, no money fills his purse.”

Juven. Sat. xiv. 139.

The second clause may be taken either as in the A. V. as a maxim He who clings to wealth (the word implies the luxury that accompanies wealth as in Psa 37:16; 1Ch 29:16; Isa 60:5), there is no fruit thereof, or as a question, Who clings to wealth? There is no fruit thereof, i. e. no real revenue or return for the labour of acquiring it. In this the Teacher found another illustration of his text that “all is vanity.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ecc 5:10-11

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.

The unsatisfactoriness of material wealth

I. That as goods increase, desire increases. This is not the case universally. There are men whose property is daily increasing, but whose desires are not increasing. The answer, as to who these men are, is suggested by the text. They are those who have not set their affections upon money. Love of silver leads to dissatisfaction with silver. Love of abundance leads to dissatisfaction with increase. He who loves silver wants gold. He who loves gold wants land. Man never is, but always to be blessed, if he look for blessedness only to earth. As bodily hunger cannot be satisfied by fine scenery which appeals to the eye; as thirst cannot be quenched by the strains of even the sweetest music; and as what ministers to mental growth will not, directly at least, tend to physical development; so neither can the soul thrive upon food other than its own. God made man for Himself, and away from God, there is for man no abiding, no solid satisfaction.

II. That expenditure keeps pace with income. Wants are born of goods. These increase and so do those who eat them. Further, wealth has its duties as well as its advantages; and in its possessor be a Christian he will recognize those duties. The practical recognition of them proves this, that when goods are increased they are increased that eat them.

III. That the love of wealth is vanity. This also is vanity. To love wealth is vanity: because love of wealth makes men cold, unsympathetic, and morally unmanly, causes them to live from circumference to centre, instead of from centre to circumference. On the contrary he who lives for others lives a radiating life, realizes that all are brethren. To love wealth is vanity, because whilst there is an excitement in the pursuit of wealth there is no true enjoyment in its possession. A soul centred upon worldly wealth, like the daughter of the horse-leech, cries, Give! give! We cannot serve God and mammon (J. S. Swan.)

The vanity of riches

This passage describes the vanity of riches. With the enjoyments Of frugal industry it contrasts the woes of wealth. Looking up from that condition on which Solomon looked down, it may help to reconcile us to our lot, if we remember how the most opulent of princes envied it.

1. In all grades of society human subsistence is very much the same. Even princes are not fed with ambrosia, nor do poets subsist on asphodel. Bread and water, the produce of the flocks and the herds, and a few homely vegetables, form the staple of his food who can lay the globe under tribute; and these essentials of healthful existence are within the attainment of ordinary industry.

2. When a man begins to amass money, he begins to feed an appetite which nothing can appease, and which its proper food will only render fiercer. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver. To greed there may be increase, but no increase can ever be abundance. Therefore, happy they who have never got enough to awaken the accumulating passion, and who, feeling that food and raiment are the utmost to which they can aspire, are therewith content.

3. It should reconcile us to the want of wealth, that, as abundance grows, so grow the consumers, and of riches less perishable, the proprietor enjoys no more than the mere spectator. A rich man buys a picture or a statue, and he is proud to think that his mansion is adorned with such a famous masterpiece. But a poor man comes and looks at it, and, because he has the aesthetic insight, in a few minutes he is conscious of more astonishment and pleasure than the dull proprietor has experienced in half a century. Or, a rich man lays out a park or a garden, and, except the diversion of planning and remodelling, he has derived from it little enjoyment; but some bright morning a holiday student or a town-pent tourist comes, and when he leaves he carries with him a freight of life-long recollections.

4. Amongst the pleasures of obscurity, or rather of occupation, the next noticed is sound slumber. Sometimes the wealthy would be the better for a taste of poverty; it would reveal to them their privileges. But if the poor could get a taste of opulence, it would reveal to them strange luxuries in lowliness. Fevered with late hours and false excitement, or scared by visions the righteous recompense of gluttonous excess, or with breath suppressed and palpitating heart listing the fancied footsteps of the robber, grandeur often pays a nightly penance for the triumph of the day.

5. Wealth is often the ruin of its possessor. It is kept for the owner to his hurt. Like that King of Cyprus who made himself so rich that he became a tempting spoil, and who, rather than lose his treasures, embarked them in perforated ships; but, wanting courage to draw the plugs, ventured back to land and lost both his money and his life: so a fortune is a great perplexity to its owner, and is no defence in times of danger. And very often, by enabling him to procure all that heart can wish, it pierces him through with many sorrows. Ministering to.the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, misdirected opulence has ruined many both in soul and body.

6. Nor is it a small vexation to have accumulated a fortune, and when expecting to transmit it to some favourite child, to find it suddenly swept away (Ecc 5:14-16). There is now the son, but where is the sumptuous mansion? Here is the heir, but where is the vaunted heritage?

7. Last of all, are the infirmity and fretfulness which are the frequent companions of wealth. You pass a stately mansion, and as the powdered menials are closing the shutters of the brilliant room, and you see the sumptuous table spread and the fire-light flashing on vessels of gold and vessels of silver, perhaps no pang of envy pricks your bosom, but a glow of gratulation for a moment fills it: Happy people who tread carpets so soft, and who swim through halls so splendid! But, some future day, when the candles are lighted and the curtains drawn in that selfsame apartment, it is your lot to be within; and as the invalid owner is wheeled to his place at the table, and as dainties are handed round of which he dare not taste, and as the guests interchange cold courtesy, and all is so stiff and so commonplace, and so heartlessly grand, your fancy cannot help flying of[ to some humbler spot with which you are mere familiar, and where quiet with contentment makes her home. (J. Hamilton, D. D.)

Silver and satisfaction

This is true of all earthly things. No man is satisfied with any human idol.

I. Corrupt affection. All worldly love is corrupt. There is nothing good in silver. It has only present beauty and usefulness.

II. The glamour of time. How bright is the tinsel of an illuminated theatre! Such is the spell cast over the things of time and sense, until the Spirit of God causes the sunshine to beam in our hearts.

III. The disappointment of ambition. Like a mirage the object sought eludes the grasp. No acquisition is final. The more we get the more we want. (Homilist.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 10. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver] The more he gets, the more he would get; for the saying is true: –

Crescit amor nummi, quantum ipsa pecunia crescit.

“The love of money increases, in proportion as money itself

increases.”

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The greatest treasures of silver do not satisfy the covetous possessor of it; partly because his mind is insatiable, and his desires are increased by and with gains; partly because silver of itself cannot satisfy his natural desires and necessities as the fruits of the field can do, and the miserable wretch grudgeth to part with his silver, though it be to purchase things needful and convenient for him.

That loveth abundance; or, that loveth it (to wit, silver) in abundance; that desires and lays up great treasures.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

10. Not only will God punish atlast, but meanwhile the oppressive gainers of “silver” findno solid “satisfaction” in it.

shall not be satisfiedsothe oppressor “eateth his own flesh” (see on Ec4:1 and Ec 4:5).

with increaseis notsatisfied with the gain that he makes.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver,…. The tillage of the earth is necessary, a very laudable and useful employment, and men do well to busy themselves in it; without this, neither the common people nor the greatest personages can be supplied with the necessaries of life; but then an immoderate love of money is criminal, which is here meant by loving silver, one kind of money, which when loved beyond measure is the root of all evil; and besides, when a man has got ever so much of it, he is not satisfied, he still wants more, like the horse leech at the vein cries Give, give; or he cannot eat silver, so Jarchi; or be “fed with money”, as Mr. Broughton renders it; and herein the fruits of the earth, for which the husbandman labours, have the preference to silver; for these he can eat, and be filled and satisfied with them, but he cannot eat his bags of gold and silver;

nor he that loveth abundance with increase; that is, he that coveteth a great deal of this world’s things shall not be satisfied with the increase of them, let that be what it will; or, he shall have “no increase” f, be ever the better for his abundance, or enjoy the comfort and benefit of it: or, “he that loveth abundance [from whence there is] no increase” g; that loves to have a multitude of people about him, as manservants and maidservants; a large equipage, as Aben Ezra suggests, which are of very little use and service, or none at all;

this [is] also vanity: the immoderate love of money, coveting large estates and possessions, and to have a train of servants. Jarchi allegorically interprets silver and abundance, of the commands, and the multitude of them.

f “non erit proventus illi”, Vatablus, Mercerus, Gejerus; “nullum fructum percipit”, Tigurine version. g “Qui amat copiam, sc. multitudinem ex qua non est sperandus profectus”, Schmidt, so Gussetius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

“He who loveth silver is not satisfied with silver; and he whose love cleaveth to abundance, hath nothing of it: also this is vain.” The transition in this series of proverbs is not unmediated; for the injustice which, according to Ecc 5:7, prevails in the state as it now is becomes subservient to covetousness, in the very nature of which there lies insatiableness: semper avarus eget, hunc nulla pecunia replet . That the author speaks of the “ sacra fames argenti ” (not auri ) arises from this, that not , but , is the specific word for coin.

(Note: A Jewish fancy supposes that is chosen because it consists of letters rising in value (20, 60, 80); while, on the contrary, consists of letters decreasing in value (7, 5, 2).)

Mendelssohn-Friedlnder also explains: “He who loveth silver is not satisfied with silver,” i.e., it does not make him full; that might perhaps be linguistically possible (cf. e.g., Pro 12:11), although the author would in that case probably have written the words , after Ecc 6:3; but “to be not full of money” is, after Ecc 1:8, and especially Ecc 4:8, Hab 2:5, cf. Pro 27:20 = never to have enough of money, but always to desire more.

That which follows, Ecc 5:9, is, according to Hitz., a question: And who hath joy in abundance, which bringeth nothing in? But such questions, with the answer to be supplied, are not in Koheleth’s style; and what would then be understood by capital without interest? Others, as Zckler, supply : and he that loveth abundance of possessions (is) not (full) of income; but that which is gained by these hard ellipses is only a tautology. With right, the Targ., Syr., Jerome, the Venet., and Luther take lo tevuah as the answer or conclusion; and who clings to abundance of possessions with his love? – he has no fruit thereof; or, with a weakening of the interrog. pronoun into the relative (as at Ecc 1:9; cf. under Psa 34:13): he who … clings has nothing of it. Hamon signifies a tumult, a noisy multitude, particularly of earthly goods, as at Psa 37:16; 1Ch 29:16; Isa 60:5. The connection of with , occurring only here, follows the analogy of and the like. The conclusion is synon. with levilti ho’il ; e.g., Isa 44:10; Jer 7:8. All the Codd. read ; in this sense would be meaningless.

(Note: In Maccoth 10 a, is read three times in succession; the Midrash Wajikra, c. 22, reads , and thus it is always found without Ker and without variation.)

The designation of advantage by tevuah , the farmer enjoys the fruit of his labour; but he who hangs his heart on the continual tumult, noise, pomp of more numerous and greater possessions is possible, to him all real profit – i.e., all pleasant, peaceful enjoyment – is lost. With the increase of the possessions there is an increase also of unrest, and the possessor has in reality nothing but the sight of them.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

PROBLEMS OF WEALTH

Verse 10 affirms that the acquisition of wealth does not satisfy the desire to gain more and more, and declares that such an attitude is also vanity, Pro 15:27; Isa 56:11; Luk 12:15-18; 1Ti 6:9-10.

Verse 11 reveals that wealth creates problems of increased expense for advisers and managers, to protect and increase assets, and to pay for things and life style necessary to reflect the desired image of wealth, Luk 12:18; Mar 4:19.

Verse 12 contrasts the untroubled sleep of the laboring man whose resources are limited but adequate, with the abundance of the rich man whose nights are sleepless, because he worries about keeping and enlarging his wealth, Luk 12:17-19; Psa 52:7; Job 31:24-28; Pro 23:5.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Ecc. 5:10-12

THE IMPOTENCE OF WEALTH

Wealth, though it confers great social influence and power, has yet some elements of weakness, and fails when the severest tests are applied.

I. Wealth cannot Satisfy the Desire it Raises. Wealth stimulates desire, and when attained feeds that desire; but not to satisfaction. (Ecc. 5:10.) The appetite only increases by what it feeds on. The fever of gain only rages the more with the increase of possessions. This insatiable desire of wealth is,

1. Irrational. Reason would teach us that as our wants are satisfied, desire ought to abate. When we have abundance, there should be the repose of contentment. Yet those who have gained great wealth desire more, not because it is wanted, but only to satisfy a restless craving. The undue pursuit of wealth is an infatuationan untamed passion which has broken away from the control of reason.

2. It shows that the soul is on some wrong track of happiness. That which is a real good to man gives him a pure and a permanent joy. But when the pursuit of an object ends in an unsatisfying result and the rage of tortured desire, the soul has missed the path of true happiness. Riches do not satisfy, and cannot therefore be our chief good.

3. It shows that man is greater than wealth. He may yield himself to the absorbing passion, and worship the assumed majesty of wealth; yet in the lucid intervals of his better reason, he feels that the greatness of his nature refuses thus to be satisfied. And whether he understands the eternal truths of the soul or not, they have nevertheless their operation. He cannot go against the great facts of mans essential life.

II. Wealth has Certain Evils Inseparable from it. (Ecc. 5:11.)

1. As it increases, fresh channels are opened for its dispersion. The rich man surrounds himself with a numerous train of attendants; who, though they minister to his comfort and ease, multiply his cares and eat up his stores. There are always plenty to spend the most carefully hoarded treasures.

2. Increasing wealth creates artificial wants. Luxury attaches new burdens to a man. He comes more and more under the tyranny of habit. The increased comforts and luxuries that riches procure become at last a necessity of nature. He who lords it over many thus becomes himself a slave. The artificial wants that are created have the force and impetuosity of nature.

3. Wealth, however great, cannot be incorporated with the human soul. A man cannot make his treasures the garniture of his soul. They are altogether outside of him. The owner of great riches, and of all that riches procure, can enjoy no superior advantage than the beholding of them with his eyes. (Ecc. 5:11.) A man really has only what is within him; all else is uncertain and transitory.

III. Wealth is often gained at the Expense of Real Comfort. The rich man frequently but purchases his state and grandeur by the loss of solid comforts. The many cares of his great riches deprive him of the full benefit of some of natures most important gifts.

1. He is often deprived of the blessing of sound slumber. (Ecc. 5:12.) The multitude of cares, with which increased riches fill him, make his mind uneasy and banish sleep. All his riches cannot purchase this blessed gift.

2. He has reason to envy his poorer neighbour. Though he has power to multiply comforts, yet there are simple but important gifts of nature which are beyond his reach. These are often bestowed in abundance upon his humbler brethren. Relieved from complicated cares and anxieties, and prepared by the fatigue of labour, the poor man enjoys sweet sleep. His diet may be precarious; now a liberal, and again a scanty fare, yet his severe duty in the battle of life brings him repose. He may well be envied by pampered wealth seeking refreshing slumber in vain. The blest enjoyment of life is greater than any earthly treasure, and he who depends upon wealth for true happiness must miserably fail.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Ecc. 5:10. When a man begins to amass money, he begins to feed an appetite which nothing can appease, and which his proper food will only render fiercer. To greed there may be increase, but no increase can ever be abundance. Could you transmute the solid earth into a single lump of gold, and drop it into the gaping mouth of Mammon, it would only be a crumb of transient comfort, a restorative enabling him to cry a little louder, Give, give [Dr. J. Hamilton].

The love that burns in holy souls delights to rest in its object in calm and contented repose. But the base love of gain is a torturing passion, for ever uneasy and unsatisfied.
The feverish thirst for gain only rages the more its demand is answered; but all healthful desires are easily satisfied, and give repose and enjoyment to life.
The toils of covetousness know no Sabbathno healthful relaxation of the strain of life. They hurry their victim onward to some illusive goal which recedes, as they approach it, into a land of vain shadows.
The soul has a capacity altogether infinite, and refuses to be satisfied with the vanishing good of this life.
What is a miser but a poor, tortured, uneasy soul and heart that is always looking after that which it does not possess; it is therefore vanity and wretchedness. If now God gives thee riches, use thy share as thou usest thy share of water, and let the rest flow by thee; if thou dost not do so, thy gathering will be all in vain [Luther].

Ecc. 5:11. The strongest chain, if it has sufficient length, will snap under the pressure of its own weight. Great riches may become so unwieldy as to ruin the happiness of their possessor.

The menial service and attendance which are at the command of wealth, introduce many complexities into life, and increase the burden of care and vexation.
It is wisely ordered that rank and wealth cannot be entirely selfish. They give employment and the means of subsistence to others.
The river that flows through the estate of the wealthy man cannot be pent up there, but must flow on to enrich other districts.
Great riches and multiplied sources of pleasure do not necessarily give increased capacity for enjoyment. If their owner lacks exquisite taste, and an answering mind, their effective power to raise his happiness is but small.
The spectator of the outward signs of grandeur often derives more real enjoyment than the possessor.
Let a man consider how little he is bettered by prosperity as to those perfections which are chiefly valuable. All the wealth of both the Indies cannot add one cubit to the stature, either of his body or his mind. It can neither better his health, advance his intellectuals, or refine his morals. We see those languish and die, who command the physic and physicians of a whole kingdom. And some are dunces in the midst of libraries, dull and sottish in the very bosom of Athens; and far from wisdom, though they lord it over the wise [South].

A rich man buys a picture or a statue, and he is proud to think that his mansion is adorned with such a famous masterpiece. But a poor man comes and looks at it, and, because he has the sthetic insight, in a few minutes he is conscious of more astonishment and pleasure than the dull proprietor has experienced in half a century. Or, a rich man lays out a park or a garden, and, except the diversion of planning and remodelling, he has derived from it little enjoyment, but some bright morning a holiday student or a town-pent tourist comes, and when he leaves, he carries with him a freight of life-long recollections. Such sight-seers, though they leave the canvas on the walls, and the marble in the gallerythough they leave the flowers in the vases, and the trees in the forest; they have carried off the glory and the gladness; their bibulous eyes have drunk a delectation, and all their senses have absorbed a joy for which the owner vainly pays his heavy annual ransom [Dr. J. Hamilton].

Ecc. 5:12. The refreshing repose which labour brings is often denied to the children of soft indulgence. Hence learn,

1. The limited power of wealth. It cannot purchase what is of the highest value.
2. The humbler conditions of life have some counterbalancing advantages. To the poor man is given that healthy refreshment and repose which his rich neighbour often seeks in vain.
3. How little does our true happiness depend upon the outward!

The walls of gold that keep out famine cannot bar the passage of the tormenting spirits of restlessness and anxious care.
The unequal distribution of human happiness is more apparent than real. The humblest plodder in the obscurest condition of life has his special advantages and consolations. Providence has wonderful compensations.
If the poor could get a taste of opulence, it would reveal to them strange luxuries in lowliness. Fevered with late hours and false excitement, or scared by visions, the righteous recompense of gluttonous excess, or with breath suppressed and palpitating heart listing the fancied footsteps of the robber, grandeur often pays a nightly penance for the triumph of the day [Dr. J. Hamilton].

The most precious things of life are beyond the power of wealth to purchase. Like wisdom, sleep is the gift of God.
The worshippers of Mammon must submit to a most heartless tyrannyworn down by severe and restless service, and no solid reward to crown the end.
He who takes a thoughtful and sober view of human life will strengthen his sense of contentment, and abate the fires of envy.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

E. ADMONITIONS CONCERNING THE FUTILITY OF RICHES 5:106:12

1. Riches by themselves are vain. Ecc. 5:10-20

a. They do not satisfy. Ecc. 5:10-12

TEXT 5:1012

He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.

When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on?

The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 5:1012

131.

What attitude toward money will keep one from being satisfied with it?

132.

What is identified as vanity?

133.

What else must be increased when one increases his possessions?

134.

What advantage does the poor man have over the rich man?

PARAPHRASE 5:1012

If the love for money becomes ones objective in life, money will never satisfy. He will never have enough to cause him to say, I am content. His profits will always be looked upon as insufficient regardless of how great they are. This is but another illustration of vanity. What profit is there in accumulating riches? The more you collect and gather, the more people are required to care for them. You then have the added responsibility of providing for all these people. Your necessities of life are provided by only a fraction of what you possess, and all you can do with the excess is look upon it with your eyes. Observe a single example: One who labors and eats little or much finds that he is not incumbered with worry. His rest is profitable and his sleep is sweet. But the price one pays for being satiated is sleepless, restless nights.

COMMENT 5:1012

Note the absence of such statements as I turned to consider, and I looked again. The reason is that Solomon is not turning to a new subject or even a different illustration of the same subject. He is returning to the vanity of all things as it is demonstrated through love for money and possessions. He has discussed this before in Ecc. 2:10-11 and Ecc. 4:7-8.

This discourse on the futility of riches runs through Ecc. 6:12. It is lengthy because it is common to all men and it is highly deceptive and dangerous. It also has many sides which need exposed so the reader will not fall prey to any of its insidious nuances. Similarly much is said in the New Testament concerning the principle of Christian stewardship. Jesus offered numerous discourses on the danger of loving the world. His disciples kept the theme alive in their Epistles and instruction to the church. One need not apologize for extended discussion on such an important theme. Jesus said to his disciples on one occasion, How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! (Mar. 10:24) It was a certain rich man in contrast with a beggar who found himself upon his death to be in torment. (Read Luk. 16:14-31.) Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus after it is recorded that the Pharisees who had encountered Him were lovers of money (Ecc. 5:14).

Ecc. 5:10 It is the love for money and not money itself that Solomon is careful to note. He is talking about the man who loves money and the man who loves abundance. He shall discover that satisfaction escapes him in reference to both. Even when one continually receives a profit or income from the fortune he has amassed, it will not satisfy him. Many rich people touched the life of Jesus and were members of the church and were both successful and content. Such men as Joseph of Arimathea, Barnabas, and Zacchaeus are usually considered wealthy men. Yet, their love was not for their wealth but rather the good their wealth could accomplish. This is the difference.

Solomon identifies this love for money and possessions as vanity. It is not the money itself. To this very point Jesus spoke when he illustrated this type of empty, transitory greed in Luk. 12:20-21. He said concerning the certain rich man who had such an insatiable desire for riches, But God said to him, You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared? So the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Ecc. 5:11-12 The reader is here confronted with two disadvantages of riches which are kept to the owners hurt. One is the fact that the more you gather, the more people you must have to look after your possessions, and thus you simply become a provider of the necessities of life for others who have not so labored to enjoy your wealth. The other is the fact that restful sleep, which is so vital to the renewal of strength and a proper spirit to both enjoy and care for what one possesses, is taken from you.

A single insight to one facet of Solomons many endeavors is given for us in 1Ki. 5:13-16. Solomon became responsible to care for 30,000 forced laborers, 70,000 transporters or burden bearers, 80,000 hewers of stone in the mountains, and 3,300 chief deputies to rule over the people who were doing the work. Although this cooperative work with Hiram and the Gebalites was in reference to the work on the temple, it nevertheless indicates the principle he is now setting forth. His own personal endeavors, which exceeded the work on the temple in both time and riches, necessitated similar involvement of those who must be cared for from his abundance.

What is meant by to look on? Perhaps it is the riches which are left over after the expenses of caring for all that it takes to support his wealth that he finally fixes his eyes upon and asks, What profit is this? Some believe to look on means that he gazes upon all the activity that is the direct result of his own wealth and speaks more to the workers and the fruit of their labor than the actual wealth itself.
It is a sad commentary on Solomons activities and lifelong endeavors to come to the conclusion that the humblest man in his employ enjoys a nights rest more than he. The king is envious of him. The full stomach means that the rich man has eaten all that he can possibly hold. Perhaps it was the most delicate and palatable of the finest or rarest prepared foods. Yet, he is unable to sleep. The point is that one man discovered that he is able to find satisfaction in the most meager circumstances while the other discovers that contentment is not the result of excessive riches. It is not so much the full stomach that causes the restless, sleepless nights, but the avaricious spirit of the rich man that causes him to toss and turn throughout the night as he thinks back over the activities of the day and schemes and plans for a more profitable tomorrow. His many activities and responsibilities invade his mind and rob him of sweet peace.

FACT QUESTIONS 5:1012

243.

What subject is again under consideration?

244.

Give three reasons why the discussion on the futility of riches is particularly long.

245.

What did Jesus say concerning the wealthy entering the kingdom?

246.

Why were some rich men in the New Testament both successful and contented?

247.

What is it that Solomon calls vanity?

248.

Name the two disadvantages of riches. (Cf. Ecc. 5:11-12)

249.

What was the total number of men under Solomons control in quarrying stone for the temple?

250.

Give two interpretations of what could be meant by to look on.

251.

What is the point of verse twelve?

252.

What really robs the rich man of a restful night?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

10. Loveth silver In several languages “silver” is the general term for money. The first money spoken of in Scripture coined silver is called “lambs,” each piece being the value of a lamb. Numa, who first coined money at Rome, made pieces of “silver” equal in value to a sheep, and bearing the figure of a sheep, pecus, whence our word “pecuniary.”

Not be satisfied The insatiable nature of avarice is the frequent theme of the moralist in all ages. This “dropsy of the soul” grows ever more thirsty.

“The pale and servile drudge “twixt man and man,” has in itself little value, but it can represent many values, and for that, is desirable. The perpetration of any crime can be procured with money, as some one can always be found who can be hired, and so “the love of money” becomes the root of any evil. The perpetual annoyance of the wealthy man is in the fact that so many, caring little for him, are greedy for his money. Little can he know who, if any, are his true and disinterested friends. Thus, a great estate, if it is to be kept such, demands care and labour that only its owner can perform, while, for himself, he can take but such good of food, clothing, and pleasure as one little body and soul can appropriate. The rest, beyond the gratification of seeing it, is all for others. The inward consciousness of this often makes the rich the more jealous, proud, and peevish.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Ecc 5:10. He that loveth abundance, &c. And he who loveth numerous company, no income shall be sufficient for him. See Desvoeux, p. 281.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

XXVII

OTHER METHODS APPLIED

Ecc 5:10-8:15 .

The fourth method applied was riches with the result that they were found to be insufficient because, (1) they cannot satisfy; (2) consumers of wealth increase with wealth; (3) the owner can only look at it; (4) he cannot sleep like & laborer; (5) riches may hurt the owner; (6) they may perish in an unlucky venture; (1) the owner begets a son when he is bankrupt; (8) in any event he is stripped of it all at death; (9) it causes him to lead a worried life.

The conclusion of this matter is found in Ecc 5:18-20 . According to this conclusion, it is good and comely for one to eat and drink and enjoy good in all his labor, but he must keep in mind that this is the gift of God; he will not much remember the days of his life, but it does not matter provided they were filled with the good which brings joy to his heart.

Another observation on riches is noted in Ecc 6:1-2 , viz: that the man who has immense wealth may not be able to eat of his bounty) and like one multimillionaire, may offer a million dollars for a new stomach, but there are some things that money cannot buy. He must stand by and see another consume what he has not the ability to enjoy. In Ecc 6:3-6 the author reasons that an untimely birth would be better than the condition of a man, blessed with a hundred children and a long life, if his soul be not filled with good.

The reasons assigned in Ecc 6:7-12 for this failure of riches are,

(1) All labor is for his mouth, therefore, the eternity in his soul cannot be satisfied in this way (Ecc 6:7-9 ).

(2) The greatest is but a man and cannot contend against God; neither can anyone tell man what shall be after him (Ecc 6:10-12 ).

The fifth method applied was the golden mean, on which he says that a good name is better than precious oil (Ecc 7:1 ); that it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, because sorrow makes the heart better (Ecc 7:2-4 ); that the reproof of the wise is better than the laughter of fools (Ecc 7:5-7 ); that the end of a thing is better than the beginning of it and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit (Ecc 7:8 ); that it is not good to be hasty to get angry, for that is like a fool (Ecc 7:9 ); that we should not talk of “the good old days,” for this is not wise (Ecc 7:10 ); that wisdom is more excellent than wealth because wisdom preserves life to him that has it (Ecc 7:11-12 ); that it is not good to try to make all the crooked things straight (Ecc 7:13 ); that man should be joyful in his prosperity and considerate in his adversity, for they both come from God (Ecc 7:14 ); that since it sometimes happens that the righteous die while the wicked live, be not righteous over much, nor too wise, nor too wicked, nor too foolish, but hold somewhat to both (Ecc 7:15-18 ); that wisdom is stronger than ten rulers and this golden mean plan is great because there is not a righteous man in the earth that sinneth not (Ecc 7:19-20 ); that a man should not try to find out what people say about him, lest he might hear something bad about himself (Ecc 7:21-22 ).

The result of all this golden mean philosophy is that this theory is unsatisfactory and there is a higher wisdom attainable (Ecc 7:23-25 ). It is unsatisfactory because of its failure in the following particulars:

(1) Because woman is more bitter than death. There is one man of a thousand, though fallen, but there is not one woman of a thousand. Why? because he gave only one thousandth part of himself to each of them and for that reason he ought not to have expected a whole in return (Ecc 7:26-29 ).

(2) Because it is a failure when applied to public affairs (Ecc 8:1-9 ) saying, (a) Do not rebel, (Ecc 8:1-2 ); (b) Do not resent oppression (Ecc 8:3-4 ); (c) Leave the case to God’s retribution (Ecc 8:5-7 ) ; (d) The evil ruler will die and there is DO furlough in that warfare (Ecc 8:8 ).

(3) Because there are rulers who rule over men to their hurt (Ecc 8:9-10 ).

(4) Because the mills of the gods grind too slowly for the correction of this evil (Ecc 8:11-13 ).

(5) Because, though ultimately it is well with the righteous and evil with the wicked, yet here and now we do see wicked men get the crown of the righteous and vice versa (Ecc 8:14 ). The conclusion of all this, then, is that he commanded mirth, because he saw no better thing under the sun than for man to eat and drink and be joyful all the days of his life (Ecc 8:15 ).

QUESTIONS

1. What is the fourth method applied and with what results?

2. Why were riches insufficient?

3. What is the conclusion of this matter?

4. What is observation on riches noted in Ecc 6:1-2 and what reasonings based thereon in Ecc 6:3-6 ?

5. What reasons are assigned in Ecc 6:7-12 for this failure of riches?

6. What is the fifth method applied?

7. On this golden mean what says he of a good name?

8. What of the house of mourning and the house of feasting?

9. What of the reproof of the wise and the laughter of fools?

10. What of the beginning and end of a thing and the patient and proud in spirit?

11. What of anger?

12. What of “the good old days”?

13. What of the advantage of wisdom over wealth?

14. What of the crooked things?

15. What of prosperity and adversity?

16. What of the righteous and the wicked?

17. What of wisdom and rulers and why is this golden mean great?

18. What of things said about you?

19. What is the result of all this golden mean philosophy?

20. Why is this golden mean unsatisfactory?

21. What is the conclusion of all this?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Ecc 5:10 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this [is] also vanity.

Ver. 10. He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver. ] As he cannot fill his belly, nor clothe his back with it, so neither can he satisfy his inordinate appetite and desire after it, though he had heaped and hoarded it up, as the great Caliph of Babylon had – that covetous wretch, starved to death by Haalon, brother to Mango, the great Cham of Cataia, in the midst of his gold, silver, and precious stones, whereof, till then, he could never have enough. a Auri nempe fames parto fit maior ab auro, b A man may as soon fill a chest with grace as a heart with wealth. As a circle cannot fill a triangle, so neither can the whole world, if it could be compassed, possibly fill the heart of man. Anima rationalis caeteris omnibus occupari potest, impleri non potest: c The reasonable soul may be busied about other things, but it cannot be filled with them. Non plus satiatur cor auro, quam corpus aura, As air fills not the body, so neither doth money the mind. It cannot, therefore, be man’s chiefest good, as mammonists make it, since it doth not terminate his appetite, but that although he hath never so much of it, yet is he as hungry after more as if he were not worth a halfpenny. Theoeritus brings in the covetous person first wishing –

“ Mille meis errent in montibus agni; ”

that he had a thousand sheep in his flock. And this when he had gotten, then, Pauperis est namerare pecus. He would have cattle without number. The Greeks derive their word for desire d from a root that signifieth to burn, Now, if one should heap never so much fuel upon a fire, it would not quench it, but kindle it the more. So here. Surely, as a ship may be overladen with silver, even unto sinking, and yet have compass and sides enough to hold ten times more, so a covetous wretch, though he hath enough to sink him, yet never hath he enough to satisfy him. Cataline was ever alieni appetens, sui profusus, e not more prodigal of his own than desirous after other men’s estates.

a Turk. Hist.

b Prudentius.

c Bernard.

d ; , ardere. Hinc ardens appetitus.

e Salust.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Ecc 5:10-12

10He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity. 11When good things increase, those who consume them increase. So what is the advantage to their owners except to look on? 12The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much; but the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

Ecc 5:10 He who loves money will not be satisfied Money is not the problem but love (BDB 12, KB 17, Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE) of money (cf. 2 Tim. 6:10). Those who make wealth priority never have enough (i.e., satisfied negated BDB 959, KB 1302, Qal IMPERFECT, cf. Ecc 2:8-11).

NASB, NKJVabundance

NRSVwealth

TEVrich

NJBluxury

The Hebrew word (BDB 242) has a wide semantic range:

1. sound, murmur, roar

2. sound of rain falling

3. tumult, confusion

4. abundance of numbers

5. abundance of wealth

It seems that money and this term are in a parallel relationship. So, does it refer to:

1. wealth

2. crowd applause (i.e., fame)?

Ecc 5:11 When good things increase, those who consume them increase The phrase good things (BDB 375) is purposely ambiguous to cover a range of good things. When increase (BDB 915 I, KB 1176, Qal INFINITIVE CONSTRUCT) comes, consumers increase (BDB 912, KB 1174, Qal PERFECT). More of a thing means more workers to help make, distribute, and protect the thing. More of something often causes the profit margin of the owner to decrease. Is more better?!

Ecc 5:12 sleep of the working man is pleasant. . .but The wealthy are always afraid of losing what is theirs, while the poor man is content with what little he has. Where then is the lasting value?

Again Qoheleth returns to a familiar theme: enjoy the moment, smell the roses along the way, happiness is found in the simple, free, daily life experiences of humans (cf. Ecc 2:24-26; Ecc 3:12-13; Ecc 3:22; Ecc 5:18; Ecc 8:15; Ecc 9:7-9).

Sleep (BDB 445) is a gift from God (cf. Psa 4:8; Psa 127:2; Pro 3:24; Pro 6:22). Those who do not trust God devise evil on their beds instead of sleeping (cf. Psa 36:4; Pro 4:16; Mic 2:1). Earthly possessions rob the owners of sleep (e.g., Pro 11:28; Pro 18:10-12; Pro 28:11; Pro 30:8-9). The wealthy constantly worry about (1) losing their wealth or (2) getting more!

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

nor he that loveth, &c. = And who is [ever] content with abundance without increase (capital without interest). No socialism or “corruption” of text here.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Ecc 5:10-12

RICHES UNABLE TO SATISFY THE POSSESSOR

“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance, with increase: This also is vanity. When goods are increased, they are increased that eat them; and what advantage is there to the owner thereof, save the beholding of them with his eyes? The sleep of the laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the fullness of the rich man will not suffer him to sleep.”

“He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver” (Ecc 5:10). Solomon in these lines appears to be envious of the peaceful sleep of an ordinary laboring man; and there is a confession here by the richest man of all antiquity that wealth had brought him no satisfaction, but only more responsibility, more anxiety and sleeplessness.

“They are increased that eat them” (Ecc 5:11). This, of course, is just another way of saying that, “as people make more money, their expenses also increase.” It is even true in the physical sense of the human body itself. It requires much more to feed a fat man than a lean one.

This discourse on the futility of riches runs through Ecc 6:12. It is lengthy because it is common to all men and it is highly deceptive and dangerous. It also has many sides which need exposed so the reader will not fall prey to any of its insidious nuances. Similarly much is said in the New Testament concerning the principle of Christian stewardship. Jesus offered numerous discourses on the danger of loving the world. His disciples kept the theme alive in their Epistles and instruction to the church. One need not apologize for extended discussion on such an important theme. Jesus said to his disciples on one occasion, How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! (Mar 10:24) It was a certain rich man in contrast with a beggar who found himself upon his death to be in torment. (Read Luk 16:14-31.) Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus after it is recorded that the Pharisees who had encountered Him were lovers of money (Ecc 5:14).

Ecc 5:10 It is the love for money and not money itself that Solomon is careful to note. He is talking about the man who loves money and the man who loves abundance. He shall discover that satisfaction escapes him in reference to both. Even when one continually receives a profit or income from the fortune he has amassed, it will not satisfy him. Many rich people touched the life of Jesus and were members of the church and were both successful and content. Such men as Joseph of Arimathea, Barnabas, and Zacchaeus are usually considered wealthy men. Yet, their love was not for their wealth but rather the good their wealth could accomplish. This is the difference.

Solomon identifies this love for money and possessions as vanity. It is not the money itself. To this very point Jesus spoke when he illustrated this type of empty, transitory greed in Luk 12:20-21. He said concerning the certain rich man who had such an insatiable desire for riches, But God said to him, You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared? So the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

Ecc 5:11-12 The reader is here confronted with two disadvantages of riches which are kept to the owners hurt. One is the fact that the more you gather, the more people you must have to look after your possessions, and thus you simply become a provider of the necessities of life for others who have not so labored to enjoy your wealth. The other is the fact that restful sleep, which is so vital to the renewal of strength and a proper spirit to both enjoy and care for what one possesses, is taken from you.

A single insight to one facet of Solomons many endeavors is given for us in 1Ki 5:13-16. Solomon became responsible to care for 30,000 forced laborers, 70,000 transporters or burden bearers, 80,000 hewers of stone in the mountains, and 3,300 chief deputies to rule over the people who were doing the work. Although this cooperative work with Hiram and the Gebalites was in reference to the work on the temple, it nevertheless indicates the principle he is now setting forth. His own personal endeavors, which exceeded the work on the temple in both time and riches, necessitated similar involvement of those who must be cared for from his abundance.

It is a sad commentary on Solomons activities and lifelong endeavors to come to the conclusion that the humblest man in his employ enjoys a nights rest more than he. The king is envious of him. The full stomach means that the rich man has eaten all that he can possibly hold. Perhaps it was the most delicate and palatable of the finest or rarest prepared foods. Yet, he is unable to sleep. The point is that one man discovered that he is able to find satisfaction in the most meager circumstances while the other discovers that contentment is not the result of excessive riches. It is not so much the full stomach that causes the restless, sleepless nights, but the avaricious spirit of the rich man that causes him to toss and turn throughout the night as he thinks back over the activities of the day and schemes and plans for a more profitable tomorrow. His many activities and responsibilities invade his mind and rob him of sweet peace.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

He that: The more he gets, the more he would get; for Crescit amor nummi, quantum ipsa pecunia crescit, “The love of money increases, in proportion as money itself increases.” Ecc 4:8, Ecc 6:7, Psa 52:1, Psa 52:7, Psa 62:10, Pro 30:15, Pro 30:16, Hab 2:5-7, Mat 6:19, Mat 6:24, Luk 12:15, 1Ti 6:10

this: Ecc 1:17, Ecc 2:11, Ecc 2:17, Ecc 2:18, Ecc 2:26, Ecc 3:19, Ecc 4:4, Ecc 4:8, Ecc 4:16

Reciprocal: Gen 13:6 – General Exo 20:17 – thy neighbour’s house Pro 15:6 – in the revenues Pro 15:16 – great Pro 27:20 – so Ecc 1:2 – General Ecc 1:8 – the eye Ecc 2:22 – hath man Isa 56:11 – can never have enough Eze 7:19 – they shall not Mat 13:22 – the deceitfulness Mar 4:19 – the deceitfulness 1Jo 2:16 – and the lust

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Ecc 5:10-11. He that loveth silver shall not, &c. The greatest treasures of silver do not satisfy the covetous possessor of it, both because his mind is insatiable, his desires being increased by and with his gains, and because silver of itself cannot satisfy his natural desires and necessities, as the fruits of the field can do, and the miserable creature grudges to part with his silver, though it be to purchase things needful and convenient for him. When goods increase, they are increased that eat them As the rich mans estate increases, the greater family and retinue, if he will live like himself, he must maintain; and these have a larger share than himself in the daily provision that is made by his expenses, and enjoy the same comforts which he doth in partaking of it, without his cares, fears, and troubles. And as for the rest, that is not expended, which he calls peculiarly his, he hath no other benefit from it, but only that it feeds and entertains his eyes.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The effect of personal covetousness 5:10-12

If a rich man is covetous, all that his increasing wealth will bring him will be the need for greater vigilance and more anxiety (cf. 1Ti 6:9-10). For example, more wealth in the home may lead to more locks and burglar alarm systems and the hassle they bring. "To look on" (Ecc 5:11) means having to keep an eye on them.

"How often have we read of an athlete-say, a boxer-whose golden moments found him surrounded by an entourage that gladly shared his wealth, but whose twilight days saw him both broke and abandoned. Wealth can carry its own frustration-that was the Preacher’s apt observation." [Note: Hubbard, p. 140.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

And to take from Life its Quiet and Innocent Enjoyments.

Ecc 5:10-17

(e) Now surely a life so thick with perils, so beset with temptations, should have a very large and certain reward to offer. But has it? For one, Coheleth thinks it has not. In his judgment, according to his experience, instead of making a man happier even in this present time, to which it limits his thoughts and aims, it robs him of all quiet and happy enjoyment of his life. And, mark, it is not the unsuccessful man of business, who might naturally feel sore and aggrieved, but the successful man, the man who has made a fortune and prospered in his schemes, whom the Preacher describes as having lost all faculty of enjoying his gains. Even the man who has wealth and abundance, so that his soul lacketh nothing of all that he desireth, is placed before us as the slave of unsatisfied desire and constant apprehension. Both his hands are so full of labour that he cannot lay hold on quiet. Though he loves silver so well, and has so much of it, he is not satisfied therewith; his riches yield him no certain and abiding delight. And how can he be in “happy plight” who is

“debarred the benefit of rest?

When days oppression is not eased by night,

But day by night, and night by day, oppressd?

And each, though enemies to eithers reign,

Do in consent shake hands to torture him.”

The sound sleep of humble contented labour is denied him. He is haunted by perpetual apprehensions that “there is some ill a-brewing to his rest,” that evil in some dreaded shape will befall him. He doubts “the filching age will steal his treasure.” He knows that when he is called hence he can carry away nothing in his hand; all his gains must be left to his heir, who may either turn out a wanton fool or be crushed and degraded by the burden and temptations of a wealth for which he has not laboured. And hence, amid all his toils and gains, even the most prosperous and successful man suspects that he has been “labouring for the wind” and may reap the whirlwind: “he is much perturbed, and hath vexation and grief.”

Is the picture overdrawn? Is not the description as true to modern experience as to that of “the antique world”? Shakespeare, who is our great English authority on the facts of human experience, thought it quite as true. His Merchant of Venice has argosies on every sea; and two of his friends, hearing him confess that sadness makes such a want-wit of him that he has much ado to know himself, tell him that his “mind is tossing on the ocean” with his ships. They proceed to discuss the natural effects of having so many enterprises on hand. One says:

“Believe me, Sir, had I such venture forth, The better part of my affections would Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind: Peering in maps for ports, and piers, and roads: And every object that might make me fear Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt Would make me sad.”

And the other adds:

“My wind, cooling my broth, Would blow me to an ague, when I thought What harm a wind too great at sea might do. I should not see the sandy hour-glass run, But I should think of shallows and of flats, And see my wealthy Andrew, dockd in sand, Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs To kiss her burial. Should I go to church”

“And see the holy edifice of stone, And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks, Which, touching but my gentle vessels side, Would scatter all her spices in the stream: Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks: And, in a word, but even now worth this, And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought To think on this: and shall I lack the thought That such a thing bechanced would make me sad?”

“Abundance suffereth not the rich to sleep”; the thought that his “riches may perish in some unlucky adventure” rings a perpetual alarm in his ears: “all his days he eateth in darkness, and is much perturbed, and hath vexation and grief.” These are the words of the Hebrew Preacher: are not our own great poets words an expressive commentary on them, an absolute confirmation of them, covering them point by point? And shall we envy the wealthy merchant whose two hands are thus “full of labour and vexation of spirit”? Is not “the husbandman whose sleep is sweet, whether he eat little or much,” better off than he? Nay, has not even the sluggard who, so long as he hath meat, foldeth his hands in quiet, a truer enjoyment of his life?

Of course Coheleth does not mean to imply that every man of business degenerates into a miserly sceptic, whose worship is a formulated hypocrisy and whose life is haunted with saddening apprehensions of misfortune. No doubt there were then, as there are now, many men of business who were wise enough to “take pleasure in all their labours,” to cast their burden of care on Him in whose care stand both tomorrow and today; men to whom worship was a calming and strengthening communion with the Father of their spirits, and who advanced, through toil, to worthy or even noble ends. He means simply that these are the perils to which all men of business are exposed, and into which they fall so soon as their devotion to its affairs grows excessive. “Make business, and success in business, your chief good, your ruling aim, and you will come to think of your neighbour, as selfish rivals; you will begin to look askance on the lofty spiritual qualities which refuse to bow to the yoke of Mammon; your worship will sink into an insecure formalism; your life will be vexed and saddened with fears which will strangle the very faculty of tranquil enjoyment”: this is the warning of the Preacher; a warning of which our generation, in such urgent sinful haste to be rich, stands in very special need.

2. But what checks, what correctives, what remedies, would the Preacher have us apply to the diseased tendencies of the time? How shall. men of business save themselves from being absorbed in its interests and affairs?

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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